Formación Integral Humana y Religiosa

Religious Education in the Dominican Republic has shifted from a biblical-catechetical approach toward Integral Human and Religious Formation (Formación Integral Humana y Religiosa, FIHR), a curricular framework that incorporates axiological and humanistic dimensions into the national curriculum. Despite advances in policy and curriculum design, empirical evidence remains limited regarding how teachers perceive this transition and implement the proposed methodology, leaving the gap between curricular design and classroom practice insufficiently explored. This study employed a mixed-methods approach with a concurrent triangulation design (DITRIAC) and a descriptive scope. A questionnaire consisting of two Likert-scale dimensions and one open-ended question was administered to 178 teachers from different educational regions. In addition, documentary analysis was conducted on current regulations and relevant scholarly literature. The findings indicate that 94.4% of participants perceive an effective transition toward teaching centered on human and social values, while 91.0% report systematically applying the five-step methodological cycle. However, several critical challenges remain: only 5.0% hold a degree related to the field; 64.0% report receiving institutional training only occasionally or never; and lack of teaching resources (25.8%) and student disengagement (36.0%) are identified as significant difficulties. The study concludes that participating teachers show broad acceptance of FIHR's humanistic and value-oriented reorientation and report high levels of implementation of its methodology. Nevertheless, consolidating this innovation requires strengthening context-sensitive ongoing professional development and ensuring adequate teaching resources so that curricular transformation is effectively reflected in classroom practice.